Lessons from the past
facility. The main benefits of outsourcing this task is that it reduces the strain on company or mining department staff usually tasked with capturing historical data. As a result of the current worldwide economic downturn, most of these departments, especially the geology departments, have embarked on retrenchment programmes and other cost-saving measures. The number of bursaries has also been reduced. As a result, junior staff are not always available to undertake these menial activities.
Having an extended full operational history database aids in the ease of data analysis. Extraction and reporting provide significant time saving for users when locating data or generating required reports. It also allows for timely decisions based on accessible and accurate real-time reports. Digitally captured data and spatial interpretation can also assist operators to assess why previous operators might have left mining pillars or why specific areas were not mined. The inclusion of historical data also increases the confidence in the ore body and can be used to improve category classifications of ore resources.
The quality of the captured data should be reviewed on an ongoing basis, with a 10 % re-check interval. Using the experience and skills of qualified geologists and engineers also ensures that‘ sanity’ checks and interpretation reviews can be done as part of the data capture exercise, for example holes located outside the lease area or incorrect stratigraphic succession between holes. This reduces the overall risk and cost of poor quality or lost data. It also gives you the confidence when making decisions to know that it is based on data you can trust.
The last issue to be addressed is data that was electronically captured when databases were introduced. The data may have been captured into a format or database platform that is no longer in use or available. This would require the data to be converted into another format. It may also have been captured onto devices such as floppy disks or stiffy drives— port types not provided on current computer models. Compact discs( CDs) and DVDs are also reaching the end of their commercial lives. The other risk pertaining to old storage devices is data degradation over time. As the floppy and stiffy disks age, the data integrity decreases. The retention life on CDs and DVDs is slightly longer, but still affected by bad storage conditions.
As an added benefit, there is always the potential that historical data may indicate the position, mineralisation type, grade, and other significant information of forgotten mineral deposits. Historically, a number of the larger mining house explored large tracks of land for mineralisation but did not develop it. These properties have been released or sold off under the new‘ use it or lose it’ mining rights legislation. By examining the historical data, it may yield a treasure chest of geological information. Junior exploration companies or the original company can quickly re-examine the potential of the prospect or deposit for development. b
JUNE 2018 MINING MIRROR [ 33 ]